Two children suffered minor smoke inhalation today when a school bus caught fire on the southbound Hollywood (101) Freeway, briefly closing the Cahuenga Pass.

The blaze was reported at 8:57 a.m. on the southbound 101 near Universal Center Drive, and firefighters had it out in 11 minutes, said Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The children were treated at the scene, Scott said.

The bus was from Flory Academy in Moorpark, and was carrying 23 third- grade students, ages 8 and 9, along with teachers and some parent chaperones, on a field trip to the California Science Center, CBS2 reported.

All southbound lanes were blocked until 9:19 a.m., when one of the lanes was reopened, the California Highway Patrol reported. The other lanes remained blocked nearly two hours after the fire, the CHP reported.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation, although there were reports the brakes locked up and caught fire, according to the TV station.

When the flames broke out, other motorists helped evacuate the bus.

Brian English told the TV station he stopped when he saw the bus stop on the freeway. He said he kicked open the front door and helped the bus driver, who was “pretty stressed out,” and that they got out a fire extinguisher and tried to put out the fire.

They also walked down the aisle of the bus to make sure everyone had gotten out the back emergency door. He said they found a hole in a fence on the side of the freeway and walked the third graders through the hole single file and took them to a nearby business, which gave them food and drink.

“I can understand why some of the kids are crying because a lot of what- ifs happen in an 8-year-old mind … what-ifs happened in my mind when I saw the shelf that remains where we were all seated,” teacher Cathy Peters told the TV station.

“I just saw a big puff of smoke blast in the air,” one student told CBS2.

“I was thinking I was going to die — I was scared to death,” another said.